Nine-year-old visually-impaired girl raped in Delhi

A nine-year-old partially visually impaired girl was allegedly raped by her former neighbour at her house on central Delhi's Desh Bandhu Gupta road on Monday.

The incident came to light on Monday night when the victim's mother got her admitted at a hospital, police said.

In her statement, the victim identified the culprit. A case of rape has been registered at the Desh Bandhu Gupta Road police station and the accused has been arrested. He has been identified as Karan Nepali, 23, who currently lives in north Delhi's Sarai Rohilla and works as a labourer. Earlier, he used to live in Dev Nagar's jhuggi clusters and was the victim's neighbour.

A senior police officer said the girl was alone at home when Nepali entered her house and raped her. Before fleeing from the house, Nepali had threatened to kill the victim if she revealed the incident to anybody. Dark underbelly

It was only when the girl's mother returned home in the evening that the incident was detected. The woman, who works as a domestic help, returned home to find her daughter lying on the floor unconscious and in a semi-nude condition.

"She found blood on the spot and quickly understood the entire matter. With the help of her neighbours, she rushed her daughter to the nearby Lady Hardinge hospital. The doctors at the hospital confirmed that the girl had been sexually abused after which a call to the police control room was made," said the senior officer.

The statement of the girl was recorded after she was declared fit for statement by the doctors. In her statement, she accused Nepali for the crime. After investigation, the police raided Nepali's rented accommodation in Sarai Rohilla and nabbed him in the early hours of Tuesday.

The girl's mother in her statement told the police that her husband died nearly five years ago and she had been living with her daughter and an 11-year-old son. She told police that Nepali used to stay in the neighbourhood and had shifted to Sarai Rohilla nearly four months ago.